


What’s This?

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Crimes & Criminals, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, Injury, Organized Crime, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SHIELD, Sad Ending, Suspense, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22059475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Steve Rogers is a feared crime lord and the leader of the biggest crime organisation New York City had ever seen. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to meet Natasha Romanoff, an ex drug dealer who travelled from Russia to find him, but here he was, sitting in a meeting room in front of her, and he was so, so screwed.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 7
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mistakes are all mine. I do not own the characters

It was a small nightclub in Brooklyn, neon lights flashing, drunk bystanders standing on the sidewalk, waiting for a ride. If you venture a little further in, past the dancing people, filthy bathrooms and dark corners where people thought they were being quiet but actually weren’t, you’d find drug dealers and criminals spending their Friday night in the darkness. With the laughs and noise and music, no one notices them.

It was perfect for a crime lord like Steve Rogers.

Tonight, he was meeting with Jasper Sitwell, an arms dealer from Manhattan. Sitwell needed money, so he turned to Steve, the most famous and powerful crime lord in the history of New York. Everybody in the city and far, far beyond had heard of and feared the famous crime organization, SHIELD.

Steve wouldn’t have wasted his time meeting with the owner of such a small operation, but it was better to have allies than enemies, and who knows, maybe one day he’d be useful to him.

He marched through the throng of people, ordering his men to keep watch around the club, with the exception of his most trusted agents, Sam and Bucky, who also happened to be his best friends. It was dangerous for him to have emotional attachments to people, but he had known them for as long as he could remember, and they had been through hell with him. They walked at his sides, hands never far away from the guns hidden underneath their jackets.

They got to a private booth in the far corner of the nightclub, Sitwell was already their, with four men guarding his back. He stood up and shook Steve’s hand.

“Steve Rogers,” he said as Steve sat down. “It’s great to finally meet you.”

He nodded, “And you,” he lied. Sam and Bucky stood beside his seat in the booth, eyes alert.

Sitwell gestured with his hand, and a bartender immediately came up to their table and placed down two glasses of whiskey. Steve smiled and didn’t touch it.

“How are you, may I ask?” Wasting his time.

“Cut the small talk,” Bucky snapped from behind him. “What’s your offer?”

The other man blinked, looking up at Bucky, but quickly regained his poker face. “I recently received a large shipping of coke. I’m not really a drugs type of person, but I’m sure you would welcome it.” He smiled. “I’ll give it to you for two hundred million,”

“How much is there?” Steve put his hands on his chin.

“One and a half tonne, maybe two.”

“You have it?”

Sitwell nodded, “Out in the back,”

Steve turned to Sam and Bucky, who gave him looks of approval. He often asked for their opinion when making decisions, this was no different 

“It’s a deal,” he started to stand up, “Buck, bring him the cash from the car. Gather the other men, make sure he doesn’t try anything funny.”

Bucky nodded and disappeared through the crowd of people with Sitwell and his men.

“You gonna look for a quick fuck?” Sam asked from beside him.

“I’ve had a rough week,” Steve smiled, “of course I am. I won’t be long.”

He turned and walked up to the bar. He did this most times they were out at nightclubs or bars. Quickly making women fall for him with his charm and looks, then taking them in a cubicle or alleyway outside. If they asked him to come home with them, he’d laugh and disappear before they could pull their pants back up. No one ever found out they’d been fucked by the most powerful and dangerous crime lord in New York City.

He found a red-haired woman sitting by herself in the corner, sipping a glass of water. She was texting someone on her phone and looked up as he sat down beside her.

“Hey,” Steve said. The woman fully faced him, and he could see she was absolutely fucking gorgeous. Her hair was a shiny coppery colour, naturally curled. It fell down in waves over her shoulders. She had long eyelashes that framed bright, emerald eyes. Her brows were perfectly arched, and the corners of her full pink lips raised slightly.

“Good evening,” she said. Her voice was smooth and seductive. She was wearing a back dress that dipped low enough to reveal a little cleavage. Steve couldn’t help but take a peek. He had never seen such a beautiful woman, and he was extremely turned on.

“What’s your name?” He asked, eager to move this on and get to the fucking.

“Natalie Rushman,” she replied.

What a hot name. He gestured to the bartender. “Two martinis please,”

“Thank you,” she said. Her eyes ran down his body, then back up too his eyes. “What’s yours?”

“I’m Liam,” he held out his hand. “Nice to meet you,” she shook his hand, and he felt a spark of electricity from her touch.

“So, what brings you here on this cold Friday night?” Steve asked as the bartender placed their drinks down on the counter.

“I dumped my boyfriend. He was fucking around with this other girl.” She sighed and took a long sip of her drink.

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be,” Natalie rolled her eyes. “He was a fucking asshole,”

“If you’d like,” he leaned close to her and whispered, “I could help you take your mind off him.”

Up close, she was even more perfect. Her smooth skin looked like porcelain. He wanted to feel it with his fingers and see if it really was.

She smiled and her hand reached out and gripped the collar of his leather jacket, pulling him even closer, he could smell her perfume and felt his pants tighten. “What makes you think I want to take my mind off him?”

“You look miserable. You just called him an asshole.”

“Doesn’t suggest anything,” What a tease.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” Steve tilted his head.

Natalie smiled, “thank you,”

“So, you gonna take up on my offer?”

She stood up and pulled him by the hand to where the toilets stood at the back of the club.

Steve pushed Natalie up against the cold tiles of the toilet stall, kissing her fanatically. He roamed his hands all over her body, hearing her moan as he groped her breasts. His hand found the hem of her dress, and he lifted it and bunched it up over her hips. Only one thought remained in his mind; she had really long legs.

Steve started kissing her neck, leaving bite marks and hickeys over her skin. Natalie ran her fingers through his blond hair. She tasted so good, and he groaned as Natalie wrapped her legs around his waist and ground her hips against his raging erection. It was strange. He had never been so aroused by any woman before, but the smell and taste of Natalie Rushman in front of him was just too much for his senses. The only thing separating them was her thin panties and his trousers. He needed to get them off.

Steve unhooked her legs from his and fumbled with his belt. He was just about to tug them off and satisfy his need by taking her hard against the wall when she put a hand on his belt buckle and stopped him. He looked up at her, puzzled.

“No,” she said, voice cracking slightly.

“What?” Did he do something wrong?

She sighed and placed a hand on his muscled chest and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, “I have a very, very important job interview tomorrow. I can’t take any risks. Especially not hook up with a random stranger I met in a nightclub.” She withdrew and looked up at him with blank eyes.

Did he just get rejected by a woman?

It had never happened before. For as long as he could remember, women had thrown themselves at him. Steve didn’t enjoy kicking them to the curb, but who could help it? There were too many to choose from. And if he stuck with the one female, how could he try the others? Plus he was a criminal and preferred not to have emotional attachments.

“Look, did I do something? What’s wrong? I don’t - ” Natalie shut him up with a kiss. Everything about her was perfect, and he wanted more. He was unbearably hard. And it hurt.

“It’s not you,” she made a puppy face and smiled. “I would love it if you fucked me against the wall right now, but I can’t.”

She stepped away from him and straightened her dress. “Maybe I’ll see you around here sometime,” she turned to walk out of the stall.

Steve reached out and gripped her waist, about to throw her onto the floor and fuck her anyways, but she twirled around surprising fast, jabbed her fingernails into a sensitive spot in his forearm, making him grunt in pain, and using the moment to slip out of his hold. Before he could do anything, she’d already disappeared.

“You okay?” Sam asked him as Steve walked angrily out of the club doors.

“She fucking just…. left.” It was starting to rain a little as they made the short walk over to the chain of black cars parked discreetly in an alleyway. “I mean, what the fuck?”

“What are you talking about, man?”

“I had her wrapped around my finger, and then she just walked out. Like, why?” Steve grunted and opened the door on one of the cars, and Sam sat climbed in after him.

“What happened?” Bucky asked from the from seat.

“He was fucking this girl and she walked out on him,” Sam sniggered, hands covering his face.

Bucky laughed, “that’s a first,”

“What was her name?” Sam asked.

“Natalie Rushman,”

Steve saw Bucky stiffen from the driver’s seat. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Did she have red hair, green eyes, and kinda like she was foreign?”

“Yeah…” Steve leaned forwards. “How do you know?”

“It’s nothing…forget it.” Bucky shook his head and continued driving silently.

Sam and Steve looked at each other. Steve couldn’t help but notice there was something strange about Natalie Rushman. He didn’t know what it was, but he just had a feeling.

Steve Rogers owned a hotel. Yes, he was a crime lord, but also a businessman who ran a hotel. He had a very busy life. The hotel was the headquarters to his massive underground SHIELD empire. The staff in it were all part of his crime organisation and fully aware of what went on underneath the first floor of the five-star hotel, bustling with normal people who had no idea what they were on top of.

Steve lived on the top floor of his hotel, in a penthouse suite with one of its windows made entirely of glass, overlooking the city of New York with its skyscrapers and busy traffic. The penthouse had two floors, the top only covering half of the original space, and there was not much more to it than a couch, a brick fireplace and bookshelves. It had a thin winding staircase down into the first floor, which was the work of art.

Steve had his bed near the glass wall, its silk sheets matching the modern black and white theme of his penthouse. Black curtains on either side of the wall cascaded down to the white marble floor. He didn’t really use the curtains though, Steve preferred to simply make the glass tinted with some fancy technology that worked with the press of a button. With the money he earned from the hotel and in the underground, it made him rich. He had an en-suite bathroom and his personal office in the large space of the penthouse, with fancy black sofas, a large oak desk and a shiny fish tank alive with shimmering creatures darting about. He had a large walk-in wardrobe with expensive suits and protective leather for the occasional problem he had to deal with outside of the hotel.

The underground of his hotel was something from a movie. Weapon and supply stores, workshops, a giant three tier parking space for the cars he owned, an infirmary, an emergency bunker, an interrogation room, some holding cells, and a meeting room for when other criminals came to visit.

It was a busy task being a crime lord and hotel manager at the same time. They both needed equal attention from him, with the hotel requiring more carefulness. If it ran out of business or one of the customers accidentally discovered what hid beneath it, then his ‘career’ would end and he would be thrown into jail for the rest of his life. Not even half of the NYPD he had paid off with its detectives and forensic scientists could help cover it up.

When Steve was busy spending time out of the city or country, meeting with other crime lords and striking deals, Bucky would help him run the hotel. Sam popped in and out occasionally, his job being the spymaster for Steve. He went undercover in different countries, contacting the multiple other bases he had around the globe, scavenging information here and there about Steve’s competition and threats, figuring out their moves and motives.

The chain of cars drove into the tunnel leading into the car park of his hotel underground. They parked in a neat row in Steve’s massive parking lot. He got out of the car and his men went their separate ways. Bucky and Sam followed him into the glass elevator at the end of the floor. They stepped inside and pressed the button for the top floor.

“The deal?” Steve asked.

“Is fine,” Sam replied. “Sitwell didn’t cheat us out, the bags have been checked and there are no other dangerous substances in them.”

Steve nodded. “Make sure it’s safe inside the storage.”

“Of course.”

There were a few seconds of silence, with the occasional rumble of the elevator as it climbed up the shiny, luxurious hotel. The nighty view of New York stretched out before them. The elevator dinged and its doors opened, revealing a short corridor with rooms on either side that were Bucky and Sam’s. That the end of the corridor was a large glass door that led to Steve’s office and penthouse.

The three men stepped outside. Steve put his hands on his friends’ shoulders. “Goodnight, guys.”

An hour later, Steve was settling into his bed when there were five loud knocks on his door. He sighed and got up, seeing it was Sam and Bucky, and opened it. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

Bucky raised his hand; he was clutching his phone. “I need to talk to you guys,”

Steve sat in his large oak desk located inside his office, with Sam perched on the edge of it and Bucky sat in a seat beside him.

“I received a… message yesterday.” Bucky said, gripping his phone.

Steve raises his eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

“It was anonymous, I don’t know how this person found a way to contact us. I tried tracing their phone, but there’s nothing. It can’t be one of our agents because they are all on our records. It’s- you can just see it for yourself.” He held out the burner phone to Steve and Sam, who both peered at it.

Steve saw a text message from an unknown number.

I would like an audience with the leader of this crime organization 24 hours after I send this message. I am coming to you as a friend.

Steve felt uneasy. He always made sure that SHIELD’s digital footprints were erased and couldn’t be traced. He had impenetrable security and nobody had been able to hack through it. So how did this person manage to send them a message? And they were asking him to meet with them? The fuck?

“Can you do something about this? It could really be putting all of us in danger.” Sam put his hand on his chin, “Who knows what else this guy could do? Next thing you know he is waltzing down to the hotel to blow it up.”

“Yeah, try to track him down again, ok? And ignore the bloody text. I’m not meeting with this guy.”

“We could take him in, ask what else he knows and then just shoot him.” Sam suggested.

Bucky looked at both of them helplessly. “No, guys, the thing is, I- I know who this person is.”

Sam’s head snapped up, and Steve rose from his chair. “Bucky, buddy, if you weren’t my best friend and I didn’t have as much trust in you, you’d be dead by now for risking SHEILD’s safety and having unauthorised contact with the outside.”

“Steve, calm down.” Bucky raised his hands. “I don’t know how to break this to you, but um, this person is Natasha Romaoff. I knew her when I was younger back in Russia. And, well, she was the woman at the bar today.”

Steve froze. For a moment all that was in his mind was her eyes. The taste of her skin. Her intoxicating scent. He had so many questions. “I don’t know what to say.” He said instead. “Who the fuck is she, and how did you know her?”

“Short story, she was my childhood friend, after we graduated, she started doing bad stuff. She set up a drug empire when she was twenty-two years old. It was ridiculous and I helped her do it. Then I moved here and found you guys. Never really got to escape the criminal life.” Bucky chuckled. “Her father was a wealthy and popular businessman. When she was finally caught, he paid a huge amount of money to keep her out of jail, and in turn she was exiled. This was a few months ago.”

Steve listened disbelievingly. “Why didn’t I know this?”

Bucky shrugged. “It’s not important,”

“It certainly is now. How the fuck does she now where we’re located?”

“Natasha is very…talented in these things. She will always find a way. She’s a really good hacker.”

“So are you telling me that this woman is your childhood friend who is also kind of a criminal?” 

“Yes. I received the message this morning, and I had suspicions that it was her. But earlier when you told me about the woman who walked out on you I knew it was Natasha. She’s here, and she wants to meet with you.”

An important job interview. That’s what Natasha has said to him.

“And why would I agree to do that?” Steve crossed his arms.

“Look, I think she wants to join SHIELD. She has nowhere to go.”

“We’re not a charity organization.”

“I still remember her; she has a remarkable set of skills that could be useful to you.”

“She could have police on her tail or other things that could compromise SHIELD.” Steve hissed.

“Natasha was one of the smartest people I ever knew. She is a good criminal and knows how to handle her damn shit.” Bucky sighed. “Just agree to this meeting. I think she could be of help. I promise you can trust her and this won’t be dangerous.”

“Why are you defending her?”

“Natasha was like a sister to me.” Bucky stood up and started walking towards the door. “my parents died when I was ten years old, and her father took me in,” he bitterly turned around when he reached the door. “We had twenty-four hours. That mean tomorrow at eight, she will show up at the hotel. Consider having this meeting. I won’t be the only one who ends up appreciating it.”

He was agreeing to something crazy dangerous, but there was a voice in his head that encouraged him to do it. Steve hated feeling this way, but when he went to bed for the second time that night, he thought about Natalie Rushman, whose name was actually Natasha, and their encounter at the bar. He wouldn’t mind seeing her again.

The next morning, he got up and Bucky texted him to come down to the meeting room. He travelled down eleven floors and through the door that took him to an elevator for the underground. He passed dozens of people, saying good morning to him, multiple rooms and grey corridors, before approaching the meeting room. He opened the door and several heads looked up at him. he scanned their faces. His best friends, other important SHIELD agents, and the familiar but foreign face.

And yep, that was the red-headed woman from the bar. 


	2. Why Do You Hate Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve meets Natasha for the second time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so I’ve been really busy recently, but now I’m ok and I will try to update more quickly. Hopefully the chapters will get longer but for now I’ve just had to post this. Here you go. Mistakes are all mine and I do not own the characters.

Bucky noticed Steve come into the room. He stood up and placed his hand on Natasha’s shoulder. “Steve, meet my friend Natasha Romanoff. Although I’m sure you already have.”

“Nice to meet you,” Steve walked over to Natasha and held out his hand, “for real.”

She smiled slightly and shook it. “You too.” Her English was surprisingly good. There was no hint of a Russian accent.

Steve ran his eyes down her face, carefully studying it for the first time in daylight. She was even more beautiful than yesterday at the bar. She had an elegantly defined face and full, pink lips. Natasha’s emerald eyes sparkled as they caught the light. Wow.

“I don’t know you,” Steve said as he sat down. “And I’m not gonna do the let’s pretend we’re friends thing. Tell me, what makes you think you’re so worthy to join my empire?”

“I have skills that you may find useful,” Natasha took a seat across from him, she tossed her fiery hair over her shoulder. “I have been trained in hand-to-hand combat. I can identify different weapons. I have some medical training and I can fly a helicopter. As you already know , I am a good hacker.”

“Holy shit, are you police?” Sam asked from the corner. Natasha smiled at him.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth about your skills?” Steve asked, raising his brows.

“You have to find out for yourself, crime lord.” She gave him a seductive smirk that sent a shiver down his spine. Her lips. Her skin.

Natasha sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Should you accept me into your empire as an agent, I will offer all my services to you. I promise to never tell anyone about this.”

“Why should I believe what you say?”

Bucky cut in. “Because she is my friend. And I have told you that you can rely on her. I didn’t think trust was an issue between us, Steve.”

Natasha glanced at Bucky appreciatively.

Steve didn’t want to argue about this. He sighed and took a long look at Natasha, she didn’t break his stare.

“Alright,” he could’ve sworn her eyes flickered in relief. “Come with me.” He held the door open for her as his friends looked at him, confused. They didn’t know where he was taking her. When new agents joined, which wasn’t often, they were given a room and a tour of the hotel, usually not done by the leader himself.

But he knew what he was doing.

Natasha stepped past him and he closed the meeting room door. He could smell her perfume again, the intoxicating scent making him stiffen and memories of him kissing her rushed back into his brain.

There was awkward silence as Steve lead her up to the very top of the hotel. He could tell she was impressed. “This is my room.” The entered the glass door and into the penthouse.

“Not really a room, is it?” Natasha muttered under her breath.

He ignored her. “And my office.” 

She nodded and put her hands on her hips. “And?”

“And, you’ll be working here as my personal assistant.”

Her eyes widened. “No,”

“Sorry?”

Her hands dropped from her hips and she pointed a finger at him. “I didn’t come here all the way from Russia to be your fucking assistant.”

“Well you don’t seem to have any other choice, do you?” He rolled his eyes

“Of course I have a fucking choice, you’re not giving me a chance!” She said angrily. “You don’t know what I can do.” 

“Well, I don’t have to know.” He folded his arms. “You will be my assistant, or you’re not welcome here. You never were. I’m only agreeing to this because you’re Bucky’s friend, apparently.” Steve wanted to say something else, but bit down on his tongue.

“Are you doing this because you hate me? Giving me hope and then telling me I have to be your assistant just to put me down? Are you trying to get back at me for something?”

“None of those things,” although he remembered how disappointed he was when she left him. “I just need to keep a closet eye on you, since you’re new.”

“You’re kidding. I really have to be your assistant?” 

“Yes.”

Natasha closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her temples. “Fine.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Steve nodded. “I’ll get someone to send you a schedule. Because you’re my assistant, your room will be on this floor. Number 623, at the very end.” He pointed down the corridor. “There will be people to help you find things, and so forth. I don’t have to explain the whole thing to you. Now, I have things to do. You can get settled in for today, you start work tomorrow. Get Bucky to show you around.”

Natasha nodded and turned to leave. He could see anger and disappointment in her eyes. It didn’t sit well with him. “Natasha,” he said. She stopped to look at him.

“What,”

“Why?” He asked.

“Why what?”

“You don’t want this. Why don’t you just leave? Why are you so desperate to stay here?”

She cocked her head and her eyes glittered with intensity. “You don’t know what it is to not have someone. You’ve always had your friends. I’m not welcome in my family, my fucking country. I have no one except Bucky. He’s the only friend I’ve been able to keep, because once someone sees who I really am, or what I can do, they jerk away like they’ve been fucking burned or something.”

Steve didn’t know what to say. She did swear a lot, but that wasn’t important. He never realised how privileged he was sometimes. He had luxuries, friends, and a dangerous-ass job but hell, he got to do it with the right people and it didn’t even matter. And then there were people like Natasha who, he couldn’t even imagine how lonely she got.

Steve’s train of thought snapped. Get your shit together, Rogers. You’re not supposed to feel sorry for people who’s fucking with your head. He didn’t even know if she was telling the truth or not.

Natasha took one last long stare at him, then spun on her heel and left the room. His eyes caught on the flash of her red hair as she walked off.

In some ways, he’d been kidding himself. He secretly hoped she’d reject his deal and leave, so she’d get out of his life . There was a part of him, deep down, that admired her and roared at him to finish what they’d started yesterday. He feared that part, for he knew it was advised that agents don’t form emotional attachments. Steve couldn’t help but feel attracted to her and the only way to stop that was if he never saw her again. 

But the greedy, desire-filled side of him won, and now she was his assistant. Natasha would be in his office everyday, helping him organise files and checking for in-mission agents. This wasn’t good, he told himself.

“So, assistant, huh?” SHIELD’s tech genius, Tony Stark, stood beside Steve. He flexed his finger, which were wrapped around by a band of metal.

“I didn’t know what else to do.” Tony didn’t exactly work for him, he had his own company, Stark Industries. They were good friends and he often supplied his newly invented gadgets to SHIELD. Steve always thought it was quite adventurous of Tony, because if anyone found out who he was involved with, he’d be thrown in jail for the rest of his life. He didn’t care though, Stark was risk-loving like that.

They were standing in a corner of the underground training floor, Steve stared at the silver ring around Tony’s middle finger.

“What’s this?” He asked

The other man made a fist, and a small, sharp spike popped out of the ring. It could definitely cut through skin. Tony pretended to throw a punch at his throat. “Boom, you’re dead.”

“Wow. How un-techy. What’s happened to force field armour and laser guns?”

“Hey, stop yelling at me. I wanted to do something simple and different. Besides, it’s a very stylish weapon.” He made a fist and the spike popped back in. He then flipped his middle finger up. “You like?”

Steve scoffed. “Yes.” At that moment his eyes caught on Natasha, who had just come in with Bucky beside her. He showed her around the training area.

“Holy shit. Is that the Russian? She’s hot.”

Steve sighed. Of course. Anyone would be stupid if they didn’t think that. Luckily, the training floor wasn’t very busy today, or there’d be lots of male agents looking at her. Steve didn’t know if he could stand it if they were all staring at her.

Bucky led Natasha to the middle of the sparring ring. He was about to do the test that every agent went through. Steve heard him say, “Now, we’re gonna see what you can do in an emergency situation, okay?” He saw a man sneaking up behind her, nodding to Bucky. The agent would tackled her from behind and the fight would determine how much and what kind of training the new agent needed.

The man grabbed her waist, and she twisted in surprise. Realising it was the test, Natasha elbowed him in the stomach, grabbed his arm and slid under it so she was now behind him. The agents sneaking up on the new ones were not supposed to go easy on them, but it didn’t matter. Before the man could do anything, Natasha jumped on his back and wrapped her arm around his neck. With amazing flexibility, she swung her leg up over his shoulder and did the same with the other, crossing her legs and tightening before simply using her body weight to bring him to the floor.

Tony’s mouth fell open beside him. It had happened in no more than five seconds. She was extremely fast, and Steve had never seen the scissoring technique done so precisely before. He stood there watching as Natasha helped the man up, apologising. Steve started to wonder what it would be like if her legs were wrapped around his head.

“Geez,” Tony said, taking off his ring and tossing it into the air. “She wasn’t born to be no assistant.”

Seeing her fight was enough to change his mind. Maybe she hadn’t been lying about anything. 

Tony took hand hand and slammed the ring onto it. “It’s the first one I made. A gift for you. I’m gonna go. Oh, and don’t you fucking fall for her.”

Too late. Her red hair curling around her face. Her dancer-like grace when she walked, something she maintained even when she was fighting.

Red.

The next morning Natasha came to his office, carrying a cup of coffee. She slammed it down on his desk. 

“You don’t have to bring me that,” Steve said, confused.

“It says ‘bring coffee’ on the fucking schedule.”

“Timetable for assistants were changed a long time ago. You don’t do that anymore.”

Natasha sighed and grabbed the cup, taking a swig and setting it back. “What can I help you with?”

“Change of plans,” Steve said, lacing his fingers together and placing them on his polished oak desk. “You’re going to attend a mission tonight here in the hotel. There’s a small crime lord coming in who has been messing with my business partners. I will give you all the information later. I just wanted you to know what’s happening.”

“I’m not your assistant anymore?” Natasha frowned, but he could see surprise and some happiness in her eyes.

“No, you are. I’m just testing how well you can work during missions. Don’t mess this up for me. You know what can happen if you do well.”

“Well, you changed your mind quite easily. Why?”

Steve scoffed. “What else? You.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, comments and kudos are always appreciated.


End file.
